The world’s most heavily armed superpower is now scrambling to keep its war machine running against Iran. As U.S. missile stockpiles shrink and high‑tech jets are lost in combat, the Pentagon has quietly extended the life of the aging A‑10 “Warthog” attack plane to 2030, reversing decades of plans to retire it. The Iran war has exposed deep cracks in U.S. military planning. We look at why the A‑10, used recently to strafe Iranian boats, is being saved even after one was reportedly hit and lost, and how the U.S. also took losses in advanced platforms like the F‑35, F‑15E, KC‑135 and C‑130.